What We're Following This Afternoon

Court won’t hear challenge to assault-weapons ban: The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from gun owners who challenged a ban on assault weapons in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. But the court left in place a lower court ruling that found local governments can decide how to regulate firearms. Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented.

Asylum-seekers in Germany: Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere says 965,000 people were registered as asylum-seekers from January through November 30. In August, de Maiziere said Germany expected 800,000 asylum-seekers for all of 2015. He added the flow of asylum-seekers and migrants had slowed in recent days, but said it was unclear why—though bad weather in the Mediterranean and Turkey’s efforts to block the passage of people leaving by sea could be two factors.

Kendrick Lamar leads Grammy nominations: The rapper has 11 nominations, including for album of the year for To Pimp a Butterfly and song of the year for “Alright.” Taylor Swift and the Weeknd each earned seven nominations, including for album of the year. Here’s the full list of nominations.

Our headlines from the morning are here.